How Australia Post is innovating from the inside out

When organisations commit to innovation, the first place they typically think about innovating is for their customers. The obvious thought is around creating a shiny new product or service - because in so many organisations, innovation still equals a new product.

The most innovative companies don’t stop at the customer. Instead, they take a holistic approach to innovation. It isn’t just about the customer; it’s also about innovating the work environment so that staff are inspired to innovate and create.

After taking some of Inventium’s clients on a tour of Silicon Valley last year, it became clear that the world’s most innovative spend as much time obsessing about the internal employee experience as they do about the customer experience.

For example, many companies in Silicon Valley have implemented unlimited paid leave policies, on-site masseuses, and mobile laundry services – all aimed at making one’s experience at work a whole lot better.

So when Australia Post – one of Australia’s oldest organisations - called to invite me to tour their new Customer Experience Centre, I was initially sceptical as to what I would find. Let’s face it - Australia Post is an organisation that has not previously been synonymous with innovation.

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We open on a scene of the exterior of Australia Post’s headquarters on 111 Bourke St in Melbourne.

OST: Dr Amantha Imber
Innovation Psychologist
inventium.com.au

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We cut to a new scene of two men in conversation in an office environment.

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The next shot is of the backs of two people seated in a lounge area.

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Shot of a woman in lounge area. A white box appears with the words:

Amantha Imber

Innovation Psychologist

inventium.com.au

Hi there, my name is Dr. Amantha Imber and I’m the CEO and founder of innovation consultancy, Inventium, and I’m here today at Australia Post headquarters learning all about what they’re doing in the digital…

Cut to two men wearing business suits in conversation

…transformation space particularly excited to hear about…

Close up of a hand holding a phone and scanning a barcode

…innovations they’ve been working on.

Cut back to Amantha in lounge area

So come on let’s go!

Amantha walks down a corridor

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Wide shot of a room with computer screens

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Wide shot of a woman touching a screen

Andrew Schimdt: This room really is to provide…

Cut to Andrew Schmidt. A white box appears with the words:

Andrew Schmidt

Trusted eCommerce Services

…an immersive experience for our customers so we can show them all the things…

Wide shot of people in a room looking at charts on the wall

…our Digital Delivery Centre is coming up with…

Close-up of computer screen

…and really embed them in the products and services…

Cut back to Andrew

…that we will now bring to market.

Close up of a hand using a touch screen

So we have a range of commercial data that we do share with customers.

Close up of Amantha listening to Andrew

Types of people living in the areas…

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…the ways to market to them, Internet usage, all those other things.

Wide shot of Amantha and Andrew talking

And that’s in part is what this room is for.

Amantha looks over her shoulder at the camera as she walks down a corridor.

(Upbeat music)

Wide shot of Marra Saly and Amantha in conversation. A white box appears with the words:

Marra Saly

Product Specialist

Trusted eCommerce Solutions

Marra Saly: So this product came from a need from our customers. It was a pain point they were feeling when they were moving houses and for them to be able…

Wide shot of a man in an armchair at home holding an iPad

…create another channel…

Close up of the man in the armchair using the iPad

… has made that capture much much easier.

We return to Marra talking to Amantha. A box appears with the words: C.O.A.N Change of address notification

Products like this and our C.O.A.N service and our Digital iD really start to change the way we’re perceived, not just internally but with our customers as well…

Close up of a hand using a touch screen to demonstrate how to sign up for C.O.A.N.

…so they select the number of months they’d like their mail redirected then put in their redirection dates of when they’re moving.

Cut to Amantha watching the demonstration

They put in their address details so their old and their new address, as you can see…

Back to close up of a hand scrolling through the C.O.A.N. website

…and then it’s a simple matter of actually selecting the organisations that they want notified. And as you can see they’re listed down here. All they need to do is click which organisation they want and they’re done.

Montage of girl going through the process of applying for a passport.

So we currently facilitate quite a number of…

Wide shot of Nicholas Tomaras speaking to Amantha. A white box appears with the words:

Nicholas Tomaras

National Industry Sales

Trusted eCommerce Solutions

…transactions in our retail network and Digital iD helps us to take that friction away from consumers…

Wide shot of retail staff attending to customers at a post office

…who typically might require a visit to our retail store on a Monday for a particular verification purpose.

Cut back to Nicholas speaking to Amantha

So the concept of Digital iD allows that consumer to build their ID out digitally…

Close up of a screen that’s running a demonstration of the identity verification process

…and upload all their documents and store it securely and it enables them to… interact with organisations

Cut back to Nicholas speaking to Amantha

…interact with organisations in the digital manner and share their credentials as they choose. So it puts the consumer in control of their identity.

Wide shot of Amantha and Regis Bauchiere walking to a table with coffee cups in hand

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Cut to shot of Regis. A white box appears with the words:

Regis Bauchiere

General Manger, Identity Services

Trusted eCommerce Solutions

Security is definitely a key concern at Australia Post.

Montage of person using the Digital iD platform to verify their identity

Digital iD is a platform that enables a consumer to verify their identity online and then offer the opportunity to store this verified identity in order to use it in a different context...

Wide shot of a man using his mobile phone in a café

…that will bring convenience and security at the same time...

Close up same man using his phone

…which is a very important concern for users when they interact online.

Cut back to Regis explaining Digital iD to Amantha

So today with Digital iD we have a unique opportunity to combine with the scale of our retail network...

Close up Amanatha listening to Regis

…enough in order to offer....

Close up Regis

…an original experience to our consumers.

Wide shot of an office environment with a sign on the wall that reads ‘Innovative solutions changing the way you connect’

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Wide shot of Amantha and Deanne Keetelaar taking a seat opposite each other in lounge area

Future payments is about...

Cut to Deanne speaking and a white box with the words:

Deanne Keetelaar

General Manager, Financial Services

Trusted eCommerce Solutions

…customer experiences where the transfer of value just happens. The Uber experience if you like.

Montage of people using different services in a post office

And so what we’re focusing on is leveraging the technologies – the digital technologies - that we have available to us and our new way of working which is an agile way to be able to deliver new innovative digital solutions to our customers…

Cut to Deanne speaking

…that happens to have payments capabilities integrated in here in a seamless, in a frictionless, way.

Montage of office environment

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Cut to Claudette Leeming. A white box appears with the words:

Claudette Leeming

Head of Workspace

So OurPlace is a move to flexible team-based working here at Australia Post. So it’s a bit workspace change program.

Montage of people in an office environment

So it’s really about you walking in, working out what you need to do, who you need to work with, and then sort of moving throughout the day in all the different environments that we provide.

Cut to Claudette

Because work is constantly changing and so really what we’re trying to do is provide an environment that our teams can adapt and change to suit the way they want to work.

Just think, it’s going to impact the lives of so many Australians in such a positive way.

Australia Post logo

OST: auspostenterprise.com.au

(Upbeat music fades out)

My tour started with looking at some of the digital innovations the team at Post has been working on. The first product I was taken through was Change of Address Notification – designed to remove some of the frustration that comes with moving house and getting your mail redirected.

It’s been about four years since I last moved house, but I very clearly remember the annoyance of having to physically go to a post office to fill in a paper based form to get it all sorted. And then there was the time-consuming process of letting all of the institutions I had a relationship with know about my new address.

Thankfully, those “manual” days are over, and mail redirection will become as easy as hopping onto Post’s website, entering your details, and ticking all the organisations you want to notify of your new address. Almost makes me want to move house again. Well, almost.

During my visit I also met with Regis Bauchiere, who joined Post from French identity solutions provider Morpho. At Morpho, Bauchiere worked on an Indian biometric digital identity solution which is now used by over a billion people. Bauchiere took me through what the Post team has developed in the digital identity space, aimed at removing friction in current identity verification processes.

Digital iD is a platform that allows consumers to verify their identity once and use their digital id via their smart phone to prove who they are anytime, anywhere.

For me, I often avoid changing service providers because of the time-consuming process involved in proving to a new provider that I really am me. It just seems easier to stay put, even if the service is woeful.

Ultimately, with Digital iD, I’ll be able to use my digital identity with all sorts of organisations, making the process of proving who I am much easier than it is today.

I also met with Deanne Keetelaar, who joined from NAB to lead the payments and financial services area. Keetelaar is working on launching a range of new services to help Australian businesses grow their eCommerce business and access new opportunities. This will be achieved by helping to make it easier for businesses to keep up with customer expectations and trade internationally.

Keetelaar talked me through their extensive range of payment processing, cash disbursement and financial transaction services that enable Australia Post to offer consumers more convenient ways to make purchases, pay bills, or deposit and withdraw cash.

But in addition to Post’s customer-focused innovations, I was able to witness the work being done on innovating the employee experience. The “Our Place” program is a huge undertaking to transform the work environment at Australia Post.

Interior Designer Claudette Leeming was hired to lead the Our Place project, which removes the more rigid, cubicle and office driven environment of the past, to one that is all about collaboration and mobility. Rather than employees feeling fixed to their workspace, the program encourages a more mobile mindset to encourage staff to move to wherever they are needed to collaborate with others on solving problems.

Rather than just implement the change in one fell swoop, Leeming designed a six-week experiment, which involved transforming part of head office into an environment that encouraged this new way of working. Leeming and her team spent many hours observing behaviour and getting feedback from staff. The feedback was then applied to iterate the design several times. The final workspace design is now being rolled out throughout Australia Post’s head office.

Given the traditional role Australia Post has played in the community, it’s encouraging to see that the organisation is developing innovative solutions to help solve real customer problems. Post’s approach to innovation is not merely about the customer but about a whole new way of working that encourages and supports its staff to be innovative.

(This article was originally published on LinkedIn by Dr Amantha Imber in August 2017.)

Article by

Dr Amantha Imber

Innovation psychologist and founder of Inventium

Dr Amantha Imber is an innovation psychologist, best-selling author and founder of Australia’s leading innovation consultancy, Inventium. With a PhD in organisational psychology, Amantha has helped companies such as Google, Coca-Cola, Disney, LEGO, Virgin Australia and Commonwealth Bank innovate more successfully. Her thoughts have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, Forbes, and Fast Company and she’s the author of two best-selling books: “The Creativity Formula” and “The Innovation Formula”.

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Dr Amantha Imber

Innovation psychologist and founder of Inventium

Dr Amantha Imber is an innovation psychologist, best-selling author and founder of Australia’s leading innovation consultancy, Inventium. With a PhD in organisational psychology, Amantha has helped companies such as Google, Coca-Cola, Disney, LEGO, Virgin Australia and Commonwealth Bank innovate more successfully. Her thoughts have appeared in Harvard Business Review, The Huffington Post, Forbes, and Fast Company and she’s the author of two best-selling books: “The Creativity Formula” and “The Innovation Formula”.

Australia Post acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we operate, live and gather as employees, and recognise their continuing connection to land, water and community. We pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging.